Among other things, Mi-8/17 helicopters flew over & nbsp; Kabul Russian production.
A representative of the new Afghan government said that the & nbsp; parade was timed to the & nbsp; “ release '' 250 new fighters just trained.
However, a Reuters columnist Gibran Pishimam believes that & nbsp; the real purpose of this show is & nbsp; & mdash; make it clear to the whole world that the & nbsp; Taliban; is no longer a rebel force, and & nbsp; has been transformed into a & nbsp; regular army.
While the Taliban are trying to demonstrate the power of their regime, international humanitarian agencies report that the overall economic situation in the country is approaching & nbsp; disastrous. Millions of Afghans face hunger this winter.
Most of the equipment and weapons shown used to belong to the Afghan army under the & nbsp; the government that collapsed in & nbsp; August after the withdrawal of American troops.
Several dozen M1117 armored personnel carriers, made in the & nbsp; USA, slowly drove along the & nbsp; main highway of Kabul, Russian Mi-8/17 helicopters flew over them. At the & nbsp; & nbsp; this parade participants also held in the hands of & nbsp; American-made assault rifles M4.
Taliban officials stated that & nbsp; military specialists of the old army, such as pilots and & nbsp; mechanics, will be gradually integrated into the & nbsp; new military.
However, earlier Russian specialists expressed doubts that the & nbsp; Taliban would be able to maintain the aircraft of the former Afghan army in a combat-ready state, since it does not need & nbsp; only pilots, but & nbsp; and & nbsp; qualified technical service and & nbsp; spare parts. Head of Rosoboronexport Alexander Mikheev told Interfax that & nbsp; at the & nbsp; moment of the fall of the previous government in & nbsp; Afghanistan had more than 100 Mi-17 helicopters.
According to a report by the Special Inspectorate for the & nbsp; Reconstruction of Afghanistan, the oversight body of the US government, since 2002, the US Congress has allocated almost $ 144.4 billion for the & nbsp; reconstruction of Afghanistan. Of these & nbsp; 88.3 billion US dollars were allocated exclusively for & nbsp; training, armament and & nbsp; maintenance of the armed forces and & nbsp; security forces of Afghanistan.
Some of the received weapons ended up in & nbsp; neighboring countries with & nbsp; Afghanistan, where they fled representatives of the former army. However, the Taliban inherited everything else.
Taliban military parades are & nbsp; not & nbsp; for the first time. On November 8, the movement also showed equipment and & nbsp; military personnel in & nbsp; Kandahar.
If you do not & nbsp; know that & nbsp; these military belong to the & nbsp; Taliban, according to & nbsp; weapons and & nbsp & nbsp; they could be mistaken for their equipment ; American units.